Candlelight vigil to mark end of inpatient care at Newfane hospital

NEWFANE – Critics of the administration of Eastern Niagara Hospital announced Tuesday that they intend to hold a candlelight vigil outside the hospital’s Newfane site at 9 p.m. Friday, the last day of inpatient services at the hospital.

The state Health Department last week approved Eastern Niagara Hospital’s plan to shift all inpatient care to its Lockport location, leaving the Newfane site with an emergency room and outpatient testing and therapy services.

Gina Guido-Redden, one of the leading opponents of the Newfane cutbacks, said in an email that clergy will be asked to pray at the vigil for “the sick and dying, the recently unemployed, those who are still employed and will have added burdens, the emergency and first responders who will have added burdens, and the health and safety of the rural residents of the county.”

Guido-Redden said, “This will be a peaceful prayer service, not a rally or a protest.” The planned site is the hospital’s west lawn near the visitors’ parking lot on William Street.